Scores of Bangladeshi political activists were given on-the-spot jail terms on Sunday, as police cracked down on a 36-hour nation-wide strike over changes in the electoral system.
A police spokesman in the capital, Masud Ahmed, said that 21 opposition activists were jailed and about 40 others, including an ex-minister and an air force chief, were detained, amid sporadic violence across the country.
The latest convictions brought the number of activists jailed in Dhaka since Saturday night to 76, with scores more detained elsewhere, as the strike brought the impoverished South Asian country to a halt. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its key ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, are enforcing the strike in protest against changes in the electoral system, which they say unfairly favour the incumbent government.
Police said 9,000 policemen and 3,000 paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were deployed in Dhaka after five vehicles, including three buses, were torched on Saturday, creating widespread panic.
Another bus was set ablaze in the city's Mirpur suburb on Sunday, police said.
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